Christopher Wilkins was part conductor, part ringmaster Saturday afternoon as the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra teamed with Cirque de la Symphonie for a program of light classical favorites and circus acts.

Come to think of it, there may not be much difference between the two jobs; just replace lion tamers and dancing elephants with ferocious viola players and wily percussionists. Someone has to keep them all in line.

Wilkins, the Phil's artistic director, was the right man for the job Saturday as he led the musicians through a fast-paced program, bantered with the sold-out crowd and even participated in a magic act himself.

He set the correct lighthearted tone right from the start.

"Does it make you a little bit nervous?" he asked as stagehands fussed with a rope dangling from a truss high over the stage of Orlando's Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre.

"It's going to make the splash zone at SeaWorld seem like a relative sanctuary," he quipped.

SeaWorld boasts world-renowned Shamu, of course, but the performers of Cirque de la Symphonie could give the killer whale a run for his money in entertainment value.

Contortionists, strong men, aerialists, jugglers and clowns took the stage to audience gasps, murmurs and exclamations of "Oh my," "Oh wow!" and even the occasional "Oh, God!"

The question of whether the audience would clap while the orchestra played — usually, a classical-music no-no — was quickly dispatched. As soon as Christine Van Loo began twisting her way up that dangling rope, applause rang out across the full hall. It rarely ceased during the two-hour show.

Van Loo performed her aerial stunts to the accompaniment of the familiar "Danse Macabre" by Saint-Saëns. The performance demonstrated how the the visual imagery could complement the music: As the orchestral sound became more agitated before the piece's resolution, Van Loo sprung into a dramatic spin, faster and faster.

Other familiar music included Tchaikovsky's Waltz from "Sleeping Beauty," played with graceful swells by the orchestra while Elena Tsarkova instilled beauty into acrobatic contortion and brought dancing to mind with her undulating legs.

The whirlwind of activity found in the score of Bizet's "Les Toreadors" from "Carmen" was matched onstage by Alexander Streltsov frantically spinning a windowpane-like frame and then a cube around his body. The orchestra, precise throughout the concert, created an especially pleasing crispness for the "Toreadors" march.

A ribbon dance to Offenbach's "Can-Can" paled in comparison to the other acts, or for that matter, to the musicians' lively playing of the crowd-pleaser.

But, really, how can a pretty ribbon compare to watching a grown man, painted gold all over, balancing on his similarly decorated partner's head — one-handed no less. The unease felt watching the men's quivering muscles was matched by the rumblings in the strings during the accompanying "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" — that's Bach's famed piece used in Disney's "Fantasia," as well as by mad organists in haunted houses everywhere.

The old circus calliope had best move along; it has been out-classed.

(Note: A second performance of this program, at 8 tonight, is also sold out.)